Achieving a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist
When you think of a personal relationship what do you think of? Maybe the relationship you have with a really good friend, a family member, or even your spouse, right? What is it about that relationship with that person that makes it personal or intimate? Perhaps the trust you have in them. You probably have no problem opening up to them and sharing how you really feel. But even if you don’t tell them how you’re feeling they can just tell. They see right through you. Okay, so now let’s apply those things to a relationship with Jesus.
When we make the decision that we want to have a personal relationship with Jesus, we strive to put our trust in him. Why? Well that’s what he told us to do. If we open up our Bibles, yes Catholics do read the Bible. In the Gospel of John chapter 6, verses 28-29 the crowds of people that just seen Jesus perform the Feeding of the Multitudes approach him and ask him:
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.'” ~ John 6:28-29
But what is he talking about in this passage? Who is the one God has sent? Well it’s Jesus of course. So he’s asking that we believe in him or that we trust in him. So this is important that we learn to trust in the Lord, but this is just the beginning. Jesus continues in verse 35 saying:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” ~ John 6:35
Okay, we obviously believe in him, but how do we come to Jesus? The crowds are hoping Jesus is going to perform another sign so that they can believe that he was sent by God. Their ancestors had been given manna, the bread from heaven, when they were lost in the desert so they expected Jesus to do something similar. They’re thinking, “how is Jesus going to help us?” Jesus then says:
“Amen, amen I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” ~ John 6:47
So now he’s putting a little incentive out there. Eternal life sounds like a pretty good reward for believing in someone, right? But what’s this bread of life about? Well like I said before, these people are all hung up on this manna. So maybe Jesus is just using a metaphor to get his point across, right? Well in verse 51 he continues:
“I am the living bread that comes down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” ~ John 6:51
Okay so now he’s just confusing everybody. First he talks about bread, now he’s talking about flesh. These people are starting to think, “what’s this guy talking about?” But Jesus insists in verse 53-56:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” ~ John 6:53-56
Okay, so we believe in him, but now we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Whoa, is this cannibalism? That’s what the people were starting to think. In fact, lot’s of these people started to walk away cause they’re thinking Jesus is going too far with all this flesh and blood talk. Verse 66 reads:
“As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” ~ John 6:66
Their giving up on him. At first his message was nice and they knew their lives could be transformed, but they weren’t willing to accept this idea that Jesus was teaching. What does Jesus do? Nothing. He doesn’t try to explain it in a different way and he doesn’t say, “wait, come back I’m just speaking in metaphors. You guys are just overreacting and you took it the wrong way. The bread and the flesh and the blood are all just symbols.” No. He doesn’t take back what he said. Why not? Because he’s serious about this.
Alright, so this personal relationship thing is making more sense now. How? Well think about it. He said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” That sounds pretty personal to me. But how do we eat his flesh and drink his blood if he died almost 2000 years ago? Great question, and guess who has the answer? Jesus himself. He showed us what he meant at the Last Supper. In Matthew 26:26-28 we read:
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.'” ~ Matthew 26:26-28
If you’re a Catholic, then you’re probably very familiar with this passage. You hear it every time you go to Mass. And every day around the world the Catholic priests step up to the altar with pitchers of wine and little bowls of unleavened bread. This food is about to undergo something miraculous. Just as Jesus did at the Last Supper, the priests then proceed to consecrate the bread and the wine. Consecrate just means to “make holy” or “sacred.” You can see the word sacred in there.
After consecration that unleavened bread and that wine are no longer ordinary food. Yeah they still look the same, but they’ve undergone a process called transubstantiation. That’s just a big word that means that although the appearance has remained the same, there has been a significant change in the substance. The bread and wine have become what Jesus spoke of in John 6 in the Bread of Life Discourse and Matthew 26 in the Last Supper. That bread and that wine have become his flesh and his blood.
The Catholic Church has preserved this Sacrament for almost 2000 years, since Jesus instituted it at the Last Supper. We call it the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. And upon consuming the Eucharist, our Lord and Savior enters into us and becomes one with us and we become one with him. It’s like that saying, “you are what you eat.” There’s no better way to describe it. That’s as personal as it gets. I mean how much closer can you come to the Lord than to bring him inside of you?
So as Catholics we do believe that we should have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And we also believe that the best way to achieve that personal and intimate relationship with the Lord is through the Eucharist. I know many non-Catholic Christians practice similar things during their services, but only symbolically. And as you’ve seen, Jesus wasn’t speaking symbolically. That’s why the Catholic Church holds strong to the Eucharist, even to say that it’s the “source and summit of our faith” as Christians. And yes Catholics are Christians.
Our entire Christian faith revolves around Christ, just as our personal lives should. Going to Mass is not comparable to a Sunday service. It’s not just a service, it’s the re-presentation of the eternal sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the better you get know Jesus, through the Bible and the Sacraments, the better you will come to understand what truly goes on in the Mass. You will strive to feed that hunger for the Lord with the real presence of the Lord himself in the Eucharist.